Royal Army in America

The Royal Army in America, also known as the Royalists, were the armed forces used by Spain and its loyalists in South America to defend the Spanish monarchy of King Fernando VII of Spain against the revolutions that occurred during the South American Wars of Liberation. The Royalists were conservatives and monarchists who supported the absolute monarchy, and they also supported the power of the Cadiz Cortes and the Supreme Central Junta of Spain and the Indies during the Peninsular War. The royalists had two types of armies: they had expeditionary forces created in Spain and militias that were created in the Americas during or before the conflict. The Royalist militia's ethnic makeup depended on the region, with several Native Americans and mestizos supporting the royal cause due to their opposition to radical change. During the wars, the majority of the royalists were from the Americas; the proportion of European troops in the Spanish armies dropped from 25% at the 1818 Battle of Maipu to 20% at the 1821 Battle of Carabobo and down to 1% at the 1824 Battle of Ayacucho. In 1820, of the royalist forces in Venezuela and New Granada, 75% were mestizos, 14% were natives, and 11% were whites. The Royalists later faced internal divisions due to the debate over whether the royalists should support the restored Fernando VII's reactionary policies or accept the liberal reforms of the Cadiz Cortes, and they were defeated during the early 1820s. By Fernando VII's death in 1833, the royalist cause had vanished from South America.